And Now, the School Pep Rally Against Whiteness March 12, 2021 Updated: March 14, 2021
The sight of high schoolers clapping and chanting in an explosion of collective energy could easily be mistaken for pep rally before the Big Game.
But these students at the Social Justice Humanitas Academy in Los Angeles aren’t getting psyched up for a football game. They are mentally preparing themselves to do battle against a different type of foe colonialism, imperialism, capitalism, and other manifestations of “white supremacy” with a chant that begins:
(Si Se Puede) Si Se Puede!
Harambe Umoja!
(Holla Back) We Got Your Back …
This “unity chant,” which includes Spanish, Swahili and Native American phrases expressing support and solidarity (translation here), is used by some teachers of ethnic studies as an icebreaker before tackling such heavy-duty classroom topics as identity, oppression, power, solidarity and systemic racism. In the video link provided in
The California Department of Education has proposed a new curriculum that would involve chanting Aztec gods names in a bid to build unity among students.
According to Meaww, the proposed curriculum under the title of ethnic studies calls for the decolonization of American society and establishes ethnic, religious symbolism by introducing students to Aztec gods prayers.
By affirming marginalized groups identities and contributions to society, Fox News reported that the curriculum would help students see themselves and other people as part of the country s narrative.
The curriculum added that it would also help students see themselves as active agents in the interethnic bridge-building process we call American life.
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The California Department of Education has proposed an ethnic studies model curriculum that includes, among other things, chanting the names of Aztec gods in an attempt to build unity among schoolchildren.
Included in the draft curriculum is a list of lesson resources with a chant based on In Lak Ech, which it describes as love, unity, mutual respect, and Panche Be, which it describes as seeking the roots of truth.
The chant starts with a declaration that you are my other me and if I do harm to you, I do harm to myself. Before chanting the name of the Aztec god Tezkatlipoka, the text reads: Seeking the roots of the truth, seeking the truth of the roots, elders and us youth, (youth), critical thinking through.